Dec. 1, 2013: Jimenez is stopped by Transit police Const. Jason Schuss at the Main Street SkyTrain station because she does not have a fare. Schuss calls the Canada Border Services Agency to verify her identity and is instructed to detain Jimenez, who he is told has been deported before and is in the country illegally. She is interviewed and arrested by CBSA officer Josie Perri for violating the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, who judges her a flight risk unlikely to appear for future proceedings. She is driven by Transit police to the immigration holding centre at the Vancouver airport.

Dec. 2, 2013: Jimenez has a hearing with a delegate of the Minister of Public Safety, during which her detention is reviewed and a recommendation is made that it continue. She is issued a deportation order and told she has 15 days to apply for a pre-removal risk assessment, during which an immigration officer makes a judgment as to the degree of danger someone faces should they be deported.

Dec. 3, 2013: Jimenez’s detention is reviewed by a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, who recommends that her detention continue. Jimenez is interviewed by CBSA enforcement officer Raman Vandher who asks her for contact information and has her fill out an application for a travel document from the Mexican consulate. Jimenez tells Vandher she is afraid to go back to Mexico because of problems with an ex-boyfriend. Vandher speaks to a representative of the Mexican consulate, who indicates they wish to interview Jimenez.

Dec. 4, 2013: Jimenez is interviewed by an employee of the Mexican consulate. She is transferred to the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Maple Ridge. She is interviewed by mental health screener Ashley Pritchard, who performs risk assessments for behaviour including suicide. Jimenez tells Pritchard she feels a little bit anxious, sad and depressed and that she sometimes senses someone with her when no one is there. Pritchard judges this to be somewhat normal behaviour for someone who has been incarcerated a couple of days and under stress. She does not recommend that Jimenez be placed on suicide watch or be referred to the prison’s mental health coordinator. While at Alouette, other detainees note that Jimenez is quiet, withdrawn and doesn’t eat much. Another detainee, Barbara Dennis, helps Jimenez apply for a lawyer through Legal Aid. Jimenez tells Dennis that she is afraid to return to Mexico because people there will torture and kill her.

Dec. 5, 2013: Vandher is informed by the Mexican consulate that Jimenez did not provide enough information for them to issue a travel document.

Dec. 9, 2013: Vandher interviews Jimenez again to get the necessary information for the Mexican government to issue a travel document. Jimenez does not give her any new information.

Dec. 10, 2013: Jimenez has another detention review at the Immigration and Refugee Board, which rules she must remain in detention.

Dec. 11, 2013: Jimenez is again interviewed by the Mexican consulate. Vandher is told by a consulate official that Jimenez said she was afraid to go back to Mexico because of an abusive ex-partner. The official tells Vandher the consulate would like to arrange for Jimenez to see a counsellor.

Dec. 13, 2013: The CBSA’s detainee liaison officer at Alouette passes on a name and phone number for one of Jimenez’s sisters, which is enough evidence for the consulate to start processing a travel document for Jimenez.

Jimenez receives a lawyer through Legal Aid and meets with her at Alouette. Afterward, Jimenez sees nurse Lilia Hernandez-Cazares, complaining of chest pain. Hernandez-Cazares is concerned that the pains are related to stress and emotional trauma and makes an appointment for Jimenez to see the prison’s mental health coordinator on Dec. 16. Jimenez becomes more relaxed after being assigned a lawyer and takes part in preparations for Christmas at Alouette.

Dec. 16, 2013: When Jimenez is summoned for her appointment with the mental health coordinator, it mistakenly says she has been released. The appointment is not rescheduled.

Dec. 17, 2013: Deadline for Jimenez to file a pre-removal risk assessment. Vandher confirms that Citizenship and Immigration Canada had received no application as of Dec. 12, but cautioned it could be in the mail. She calls Jimenez, who tells her she instructed her lawyer to file the application. She calls Jimenez’s lawyer, who says Jimenez had decided not to proceed with it.

Dec. 18, 2013: Jimenez tells Vandher she wants to apply for the assessment, but it is too late. Vandher and another officer inform Jimenez her deportation order is now enforceable. She signs her travel document, which has been retrieved from the Mexican consulate. Later that day, she is informed that her flight has been scheduled for Dec. 22.

Dec. 19, 2013: Vandher requests that Jimenez be transferred from Alouette to the holding centre at Vancouver airport, because she understood Jimenez was having trouble using the phones at the prison to call her family and thought she would have an easier time using airport phones.

Dec. 20, 2013: Jimenez is found hanging in a shower stall at the holding centre, not breathing and unresponsive. She is resuscitated by paramedics and taken to Richmond hospital. She has a pulse and a heartbeat when she arrives. She is put on a ventilator, given fluids and transferred to the intensive care unit. Later that day, she is transferred to Mount Saint Joseph Hospital in Vancouver because there are no ICU beds available in Richmond.

Dec. 24, 2013: Two doctors at Mount Saint Joseph confirm that Jimenez is brain-dead. Time of death is officially recorded as 1:34 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2013. Dr. Najib Ayas speaks with Jimenez’s family and they tell him they would like to see her before she is removed from life support. He agrees to wait.

Dec. 28, 2013: Jimenez is removed from life support.

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Lucia Vega Jimenez: Timeline of a tragedy

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